You may find some things about it lacking, like the fact it has a pretty big cast but only focuses on a few of its characters, or that its graphics look a little sloppy, but at its core, it is a really good time. Especially when you consider how many minigames it has! I certainly plan to do another playthrough to see if I can change the ending or if there’s anything important I missed during my first run. Overall, this is for sure a solid addition to any visual novel enthusiast’s library.

If any part of 9 Years of Shadows looks appealing to you, you owe it to yourself to pick it up. This is an amazing game made by a heretofore unknown team, and I can only hope that Halberd Studios has plans for a follow-up. They deserve to be showered in praise, and this game deserves your time and attention.

This game does not need to be an amazing experience on par with dazzling triple-A games, it needs to be a fun, cute, and relaxing hidden object game. It is very much that. The list of things to find might seem a little short at first, but it’s remarkably devious and should keep you searching for a consistent stretch. If you see the scenes above and think “that looks like fun,” hey, you are probably going to have a good time.

Now, I’m not saying this game will be for everyone. There’s quite a few rough edges that are just part of the classic FPS genre, but this is still a sterling example of how to do a remaster. Everything from the original has been kept, made easier to access, and optional new content has been added. What’s not to love?

At this point, you know what you’re getting into when you sit down to play a Jackbox game. Even with this concession, however, it’s a bit too easy to find The Jackbox Party Pack 10 lacking. The tunes and aesthetics are great as always and the narrators do an equally decent job but—with the exception of Timejinx—it feels as though every new game has a significant snag that heavily drags it down. Either the novelty wears off after only a few sessions (Dodo Re Mi, FixyText) or the game simply runs on too long (Hypnotorious), and Tee K.O. 2 is exactly what it says on the tin with only minor improvements. With everything accounted for you’re still in for a fun time with friends, but it nevertheless remains a weaker experience compared to previous Jackbox offerings.

It’s still a good time rolling through the city in this Remastered take. Even with the performance issues I experienced, which did hamper the experience sometimes, I found myself having a fair amount of fun being the wackiest criminal I could be. In its current state, it’s not the most polished version of the game, despite being better looking than its original version. But the gameplay here is fun enough to forgive that to some degree. If you’re looking for something outside Los Santos and would rather hit people with a dick bat, this isn’t a bad way to spend some time indoors.

If your group of friends is looking for a new party game, you really can’t go wrong with what’s on offer here. If you already own What the Dub?!, though, there really isn’t all that much new here to justify double dipping.

Scott Pilgrim EX is yet another fantastic effort from Tribute Games, and fans should breathe easy. It’s a worthy follow-up to a beloved brawler, retains the trappings fans loved about its predecessor, and suceeds at being an all around great game in its own right. This is an easy thumbs up for me, and those looking to fill their evening with a solid beat ’em up experience will surely find that here. Sometimes, it can be worth the wait.

I didn’t like Invector: Rhythm Galaxy at first. I didn’t recognize most songs by name, the controls out-of-the-box were awkward for me, and not being able to instantly jump to the highest difficult and sightread songs bruised my rhythm gamer ego. As I put more time into it, beginning to understand how the game wanted to be played, my opinion on it brightened up. And as I got a feel for it, I began to see just how well charted the songs in this game are. The campaign mode is entirely a throwaway – play through and skip the story just to unlock songs, and then never touch it again. But after that, there’s a fairly solid rhythm experience here. Unfortunately, the soundtrack here just isn’t for me. This is entirely subjective and doesn’t hit the score, but I personally don’t see myself going back to play more with the current music on offer. Should WMG dig deeper into their vaults for some DLC, though, I wouldn’t complain about coming back.

As it stands, it’s a quintessential example of style over substance. If Cris Tales fails to grab you by the end of its opening few hours, it won’t do anything to change your mind in the time that follows.

Part of me kinda wanted for Romeo Is A Dead Man to let me in on a joke. There’s a sense throughout the game that I’m missing a comment or two, that if I just had the right combination I could get a sense of what Suda51 really wants to say, and it would make the whole product feel even better or more coherent. And I can’t quite get there. But that’s part of the fun, and it’s what makes the game not just unique but compelling in the way that a more coherent title probably couldn’t manage. Some people are going to give this game a shot and bounce off it hard, and I think that’s valid. But I think that if you enjoy the game it’s going to be something you keep coming back to, and it’s definitely a game I would encourage people to buy on Steam because if you decide it’s not for you, hey, you can figure that out within the refund window. It’s either going to be very much not for you or very much for you, and I think some people are going to realize that this is their game in a way they wouldn’t have if it hadn’t sort of swept in from nowhere. The moral of the story is that Romeo Is A Dead Man has something to say, but what it’s saying is more about a feeling than anything. That is the lesson.

It leans in on exactly what it wants to be and makes its gameplay comfortable and fun with a nice look and a solid soundtrack. So it’s the sort of game that fans of management games will look at, perhaps shrug about, and say “I can’t believe I’m buying another one of these” as they click through the purchase.

I find myself somewhat conflicted about Dice Legacy. For one thing, it’s not the sort of game I personally like all that much; as implied, its design is one that I can understand and appreciate without taking any particular enjoyment out of it. I also find myself somewhat stymied by the fact that the Switch version has some interface woes that make it a bit less pleasant to play through, which is definitely what I would consider a problem. Not an insurmountable one, but there’s way too many times when it felt like the interface penalized me rather than the main game mechanics just being complicated. At the same time, I do think there’s an appealing and fun game there just the same. The core gameplay loop is well-defined and unique, and the game has a unique charm to it.

This is a unique and sometimes even a wondrous experience. In Other Waters is a perfect example of why independent game development is so important to the ecosystem. The ideas these developers have are fantastic and important to gaming and this is an experience I wasn’t going to get anywhere else. That being said, it is impossible to ignore some of In Other Waters’ most glaring flaws. As much as I’m willing to sacrifice depth in gameplay for a satisfying story, I should never feel frustrated as much as I did while playing this.

If you’re looking for an emotional ride that will likely elicit a tear or two, Lost Words is something that should be on your list. Hiding under the basic gameplay is a story worth experiencing.

Messy as it is, Sonic Origins is still a collection of the best 2D entries the franchise has to offer. It may not be as dense in content in comparison to prior compilations like Sonic Mega Collection or Sonic Gems Collection, but it does just enough to not get in the way of what made these games system sellers in their heyday. While I was hoping for an easy touchdown, this ended up being a fumble recovery instead. Hefty price tag be damned, new players deserve to see why people like me keep going back to what many consider the reason people loved Sonic in the first place.

If you’re looking to scratch that classic gaming itch, playing this version of a classic is a welcome addition to the Recharged line of games and is a worthy version worth considering. It’s not perfect, but it’s playable and still as fun now as it was when it dazzled arcade goers in its heyday.

At the end of the day, how you feel about Silent Hope will depend on how big a fan of classic isometric dungeon crawlers you are. At it’s heart it’s a pure experience that encourages experimentation and learning a variety of playstyles, but this comes at the cost of all the extra bells and whistles.

The Stone of Madness isn’t perfect by any means, but its successes readily outweigh its missteps. Its emphasis on real-time stealth and simultaneous control over three distinct characters at a time work to create some very hectic gameplay situations, naturally encouraging the player to learn and improve. Infusing this rewarding gameplay with a striking art style and a tinge of dark humor makes for a unique experience worth looking into, even if the controls can be clunky and the guards can be a little too good at catching up with you when you make a mistake.

It has a very particular audience in mind, and if you’re a part of said audience, you’ll have a great time improving through every death. And if you’re looking to lessen that challenge a smidge in order to see a decent chunk of the content without investing dozens of hours? The game is more than happy to provide you with options to do just that, making it more approachable than ever without sacrificing the challenge intrinsic to its success. And the flaming sword power up is just as cool as ever.

If you’re a fan of space combat and can push your way through the first couple hours, I’m fairly confident you’ll find a lot to like in Chorus. The core dogfighting is just plain fun, and the setpiece fights are something to see. If you’re not already a genre fan, however, I’m not entirely sure this will be the game to win you over.

No Longer Home tackles the issues it presents in a natural, unobtrusive way that allows the player space to muse on them themselves. Even if you’re not sure you can directly relate to the situation that Ao and Bo find themselves in, this title comes highly recommended. It will absolutely remind you of experiences in your past, and it just might help make the stresses of the future seem a little less daunting.

Dread Delusion offers an interesting universe and a gorgeous art style, but both are thoroughly wrapped up in a mechanically thin and ultimately unsatisfying RPG experience. The Oneiric Isles capture the spirit of the RPG worlds of the past, and there’s a wide breadth of content and characters to learn more about throughout them, but Dread Delusion’s decided lack of difficulty, one-note combat, and widespread balancing issues actively distract from its highly enjoyable world.

While it slightly suffers from a few odd decisions about its default control scheme and the direction of the voice acting (though the acting itself is top shelf), you’ll definitely find the adrenaline rush you might be craving in Screamer. It absolutely oozes quality in almost all aspects. If Mario Kart is too silly and Forza is too serious, this might just be the perfect in-between for you.

Unfortunately, I feel that while it’s a very good *simulation*, it isn’t a very good *game*, and I can really only recommend this to the hardcore skate fans who don’t like all the arcade-style skate games out there. While I did have some fun with it, there was just way too much frustration with even basic elements that shouldn’t be as difficult to understand as they were.

Ultimately, I can’t be too hard on Gecko Gods. It is a soft, gentle little thing of a game, not too expensive and offering exactly what it says on the tin. My issues with the game and how it makes use of its protagonist (or doesn’t) is not a fatal flaw. But it does mean that the game that I was hoping for turned out to not be the one that I got, and that means there’s kind of a harder ceiling on it than there might otherwise be. If a chill sort of adventure game wherein you happen to be a gecko sounds like a good time to you, then you are going to enjoy this game. It provides exactly that. Just be aware of what exactly you’re queueing up when you start in on the game.

In spite of a unique aesthetic and passable puzzles, Tandem: A Tale of Shadows struggles to keep itself exciting. The almost complete lack of narrative thrust and droning gameplay progression drag it down from the moment it begins, and its failure to capitalize on its more attention-grabbing elements guarantees a disappointing experience out of a game that could have easily been more.

It just doesn’t seem they put as much love and detail into the gameplay as they did the character writing and world building. In the end, while not a must play, Haven is still worth a glance if you’re looking for a feel-good experience.